The Ministry of Finance spokesperson exposed a scheme stealing poor people's identities, discovering cunning employers using citizens' names to impersonate fake employees, using this data to claim company expenses and evade taxes, resulting in people losing their poor people's welfare card rights. Authorities are preparing to track down and prosecute those responsible.
On 20 Jul 2026 GMT+7, Winij Wisesuwanphum, Director of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, revealed that many citizens complained about losing their eligibility for the 2026 state welfare registration program or poor people's welfare card, due to tax deduction data appearing in the system that caused them to fail the criteria, despite never having filed any tax returns.
The government analyzed continuously updated data, especially withholding tax deduction information, to conduct checks, which revealed abnormalities and uncovered a major fraud scheme.
It was found that some cunning employers or businesses fraudulently used ordinary citizens' names to create fake employees, using this information to claim company expenses and evade taxes. This caused innocent people, unaware of the scheme, to appear as having income in the Revenue Department's system and be disqualified from receiving the poor people's welfare card.
“Some have protested that they never received money and do not know the individuals the Revenue Department claims paid them. This fraud involves stealing others' names to create fake employees for tax evasion benefits. This case was more easily detected because we examined all data shown in the system, not just submitted tax returns.”
However, the government and Ministry of Finance confirm they are fully prepared to handle complaints from victims promptly and decisively on two fronts: pursuing those who fraudulently use citizens' names to commit tax evasion for prosecution, and most importantly, expediting the restoration of state welfare card rights to affected individuals, aiming to complete this process by 1 Oct 2026 GMT+7 to alleviate public hardship as quickly as possible.